I'm not attempting a full review (for that, see henry link's excellent review). Nor do I have any expertise in optics.
The reason for buying these was that, while I'd never want to be without my Swaro 10x42 EL SVs, at 71 I can no longer always hold them steady enough, unless I'm braced against something. I'm now largely flatbound by neuropathy, so sometimes I can lean against a window frame and get a fairly steady view, but I fancied some reasonably lightweight image stabilized bins of the same magnification. I already had the Canon 18x50s.
Image quality is pretty impressive, and the bins are rather lighter than the Swaros (780g as against 840g). To me the stabilization seems excellent. I couldn't immediately see much difference between the two stabilizer options, "image stabllizer" and "POWERD". but tried looking at Venus (I'm no astronomer). No stabilization: it jiggled all over the night sky like crazy. With "Image stabilizer" (which I gather uses variable angle prisms) it still danced about a bit, thought within a much smaller area. With POWERD (which uses the same lens-shift system as Canon IS photographic lenses) I saw a steady single point of light. I now find the difference quite evident when watching birds. With POWERD the view is as rock solid as a scope. They're perfectly usable "as is" if the batteries (two AAs) fail.
There's some CA on high contrast targets, but much less than on the 18x50s, and it's entirely acceptable, for me anyway. It's a matter of degree: if I look for colour fringing on such targets with the SVs it's hardly noticeable but certainly present.
The field looks very flat. FOV is 105m at 1000m, compared with 112m for the Swaros. This would no doubt look terrible compared with Swaro Pures, but I haven't looked through those and ignorance is bliss.
The eyecups aren't brilliant, but I can certainly live with them and there's no way I'll risk trying to modify them. The rainguard is OK but I quickly gave up trying to attach it to the strap. With a bit of luck I might not lose it when on a field outing, if Covid ever allows another one.
Eye placement is critical, to avoid losing part of the field of view, or getting blackouts, but with care it's possible to avoid both.
I have a dry eye condition (MGD) and my eyes quickly get tired and sore when looking through the 18x50s, and though it's less of a problem with the 10x32s, they don't give the instantly comfortable ease of view of the Swaros (or my 8x32 Conquest HDs). But again, I can live with this.
As with the 18x50s, you can either hold down the button to keep the stabilization on, or press it once for it to stay on for 5 minutes (which I prefer). If you take them from your eyes and leave them hanging down against your chest, the IS turns off after 10 seconds to save battery power, a good feature.
The soft-touch coating may become sticky eventually. I'm already familiar with the issue from the handles of some kitchen knives bought from Sainsbury's. If the worst happens, it seems (from a search about soft touch coatings on a variety of products) that isopropyl alcohol will get it off without too much trouble. There are videos on YouTube. It shouldn't be necessary at all, of course, and you'd expect better from Canon.
The 10x42L IS WP didn't appeal as much, because while they're waterproof, they're more expensive (price direct from Canon £1999.99, though you can get them a lot cheaper from dealers), a good deal heavier and use the variable angle prism system only. The 10x32 focus a little closer, 2 metres as against 2.5 metres.
What led me to buy when I did was price. There were very few dealers who had them in stock:
Direct from Canon: £1,299.99
Clifton Cameras: £1,309.00
Wex Photographic: £1,199.00
but then Amazon: £706.99. ("Fulfilled by Amazon", which meant they'd refund if anything went wrong).
I ordered from Amazon. Shortly after I got mine, the Amazon price went up to £1,299. It's currently £1,152.75.
I can see much more detail with these than with any bins I've looked through, and they're something of a revelation.
The reason for buying these was that, while I'd never want to be without my Swaro 10x42 EL SVs, at 71 I can no longer always hold them steady enough, unless I'm braced against something. I'm now largely flatbound by neuropathy, so sometimes I can lean against a window frame and get a fairly steady view, but I fancied some reasonably lightweight image stabilized bins of the same magnification. I already had the Canon 18x50s.
Image quality is pretty impressive, and the bins are rather lighter than the Swaros (780g as against 840g). To me the stabilization seems excellent. I couldn't immediately see much difference between the two stabilizer options, "image stabllizer" and "POWERD". but tried looking at Venus (I'm no astronomer). No stabilization: it jiggled all over the night sky like crazy. With "Image stabilizer" (which I gather uses variable angle prisms) it still danced about a bit, thought within a much smaller area. With POWERD (which uses the same lens-shift system as Canon IS photographic lenses) I saw a steady single point of light. I now find the difference quite evident when watching birds. With POWERD the view is as rock solid as a scope. They're perfectly usable "as is" if the batteries (two AAs) fail.
There's some CA on high contrast targets, but much less than on the 18x50s, and it's entirely acceptable, for me anyway. It's a matter of degree: if I look for colour fringing on such targets with the SVs it's hardly noticeable but certainly present.
The field looks very flat. FOV is 105m at 1000m, compared with 112m for the Swaros. This would no doubt look terrible compared with Swaro Pures, but I haven't looked through those and ignorance is bliss.
The eyecups aren't brilliant, but I can certainly live with them and there's no way I'll risk trying to modify them. The rainguard is OK but I quickly gave up trying to attach it to the strap. With a bit of luck I might not lose it when on a field outing, if Covid ever allows another one.
Eye placement is critical, to avoid losing part of the field of view, or getting blackouts, but with care it's possible to avoid both.
I have a dry eye condition (MGD) and my eyes quickly get tired and sore when looking through the 18x50s, and though it's less of a problem with the 10x32s, they don't give the instantly comfortable ease of view of the Swaros (or my 8x32 Conquest HDs). But again, I can live with this.
As with the 18x50s, you can either hold down the button to keep the stabilization on, or press it once for it to stay on for 5 minutes (which I prefer). If you take them from your eyes and leave them hanging down against your chest, the IS turns off after 10 seconds to save battery power, a good feature.
The soft-touch coating may become sticky eventually. I'm already familiar with the issue from the handles of some kitchen knives bought from Sainsbury's. If the worst happens, it seems (from a search about soft touch coatings on a variety of products) that isopropyl alcohol will get it off without too much trouble. There are videos on YouTube. It shouldn't be necessary at all, of course, and you'd expect better from Canon.
The 10x42L IS WP didn't appeal as much, because while they're waterproof, they're more expensive (price direct from Canon £1999.99, though you can get them a lot cheaper from dealers), a good deal heavier and use the variable angle prism system only. The 10x32 focus a little closer, 2 metres as against 2.5 metres.
What led me to buy when I did was price. There were very few dealers who had them in stock:
Direct from Canon: £1,299.99
Clifton Cameras: £1,309.00
Wex Photographic: £1,199.00
but then Amazon: £706.99. ("Fulfilled by Amazon", which meant they'd refund if anything went wrong).
I ordered from Amazon. Shortly after I got mine, the Amazon price went up to £1,299. It's currently £1,152.75.
I can see much more detail with these than with any bins I've looked through, and they're something of a revelation.
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